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Pakistan needs to launch an aggressive diplomatic effort to secure enough support to come out of the grey list or prevent itself from falling into the black list of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) next month, a senior government official has said.

The official’s remarks came after a 10-member Pakistani delegation attended a two-day meeting of the Asia-Pacific Group (APG) of the Paris-based global watchdog FATF in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou where it defended Pakistan’s efforts against money laundering and terror financing.

The senior official, who participated in the APG meeting in Guangzhou last week, told the Dawn newspaper that the coming FATF Plenary and Working Group meetings in Orlando, Florida, scheduled for June 16-21, would be crucial for Pakistan to get rid of the grey list or falling into the black list and having serious economic repercussions.

The Orlando plenary will actually set the stage for Pakistan’s future even though a formal announcement would come out at the next FATF plenary due in Paris on October 18-23, he said.

Hence, an aggressive diplomatic effort over the next four weeks is required to secure enough support and votes to exit the grey list, the report said.

Pakistan was now fully compliant with the related United Nations resolutions, the official said.

Pakistan has taken aggressive steps over the last two months in terms of regulatory and monitoring mechanism to meet the FATF requirements and its legal system is generally up to the mark, except some amendments to the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) 2010 pending before the National Assembly’s standing committee on finance and revenue, the report said.

“We believe we have generally delivered on the technical side i,e legal and administrative action, regulations, monitoring, enforcement and inter-agency and stakeholder coordination and now require more of the diplomatic push to counter the adversaries {Usual stuff. Pakistan is not to be blamed. It is always either an image problem or the handiwork of adversaries. That's all},” said the official.

He said Prime Minister Imran Khan was expected to get a briefing on the Guangzhou meeting and on the way forward on Monday.

The official said it was expected Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mehmood Qureshi would now coordinate with stakeholders on a strategy to reach out to the world capitals in difficult diplomatic environment where the US-India grouping has greater influence and non-aligned members of the FATF prefer to abstain than siding with Pakistan.

According to the report, Pakistan required about 15-16 votes to move out of the grey list and a minimum of three votes to avoid falling into the blacklist.

The FATF currently comprises 36 members with voting powers and two regional organisations, representing most of the major financial centres in all parts of the globe.

The FATF plenary had formally placed Pakistan in the grey list in June 2018 after the country could not secure a minimum of three votes.

On May 3, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India will ask the FATF to put Pakistan on a blacklist of countries that fail to meet international standards in stopping financial crime.

China is set to secure FATF presidency next year while Saudi Arabia representing the Gulf Cooperation Council is to become a full FATF member.

Turkey was the only member that stood by Pakistan despite a strong campaign launched by the US, the UK, India and Europe.

Pakistan’s seriousness to act against proscribed terror outfits and its efforts to curb money laundering and terror financing were questioned by members of a regional affiliate of the FATF at the Guangzhou meeting.

The official said the Pakistani delegation presented a robust case before the APG panel on the country’s progress on the 10-point action plan committed with the global watchdog despite tough questioning from some participants.

The APG would now submit its findings, based on Pakistan’s report and question-answer session, to the FATF in its June 16-21 Plenary and Working Group meetings in the United States.

One fine morning, many Pakistanis took to talking about offshore drilling in the Arabian Sea and the possibility of a discovering a huge reservoir of oil and gas that would make the country an exporter of POL products. In March, Prime Minister Imran Khan too talked about offshore drilling activity, off Karachi, being carried out by a consortium led by the ENI, an Italian oil and gas exploration and production giant, with ExxonMobil of the United States, Pakistan Petroleum Limited and the Oil and Gas Development Company Limited. The four-month activity has now ended. Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Petroleum Nadeem Babar has announced that no oil or gas was found. The well is going to be plugged.

The government may have to bear only a fraction of the financial loss in the $100 million activity, as its two companies were only minor partners in the consortium. However, the political loss is huge. Offshore, as well as inland drilling for oil wells is a routine activity. It goes on in many parts of the country without much fanfare. Given the dodgy geological data, the success rate is low. We are now hearing that this was the 17th offshore drilling attempt. The past governments, however, made no big bets on such attempts. It was left to Prime Minister Khan to hype up the undiscovered oil reservoirs and expose his reliance on jackpots. He would do himself and the country a big service should he hire some good communication consultants.

All is not lost in the 17 failed attempts. Experts say drilling for oil is a high risk-high reward business and that failures are not taken as losses. India’s Bombay High Well discovery after 40 failed attempts has been cited as a graphic example. No one can challenge the data or disagree with the argument but one thing needs to be remembered: the Bombay High Well did not make India an oil exporting country. The nation can wait for its share of good news without the prime minister and his cabinet promising some every now and then rather than focus on the real challenges.

Hopes of a transformation resulting from the exploitation of coalmines in Thar are similarly exaggerated. The low-quality coal will at best make a minor contribution to national economy. The coal-fired technology is already becoming a thing of the past in most of the world.

A drilling ending in a dry well is not the end of the world as long as the government can be persuaded to realise that national economies are not run on prospects of jackpots. Pakistan’s economic challenges are real, but they are not with solutions. This is a land of great potential and many an untapped reservoir. . *

UDHAMPUR: Asserting that the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir is "under control" , the Army said on Monday that Pakistan is continuing with its anti-India activities along the Line of Control (LoC) by trying to infiltrate terrorists into the Valley and promoting drug trade.

SSridhar wrote:The FATF plenary had formally placed Pakistan in the grey list in June 2018 after the country could not secure a minimum of three votes.......Turkey was the only member that stood

Something needs to be done here...why can't we influence such small players to switch sides when dragons are made to sit in the corner...

Turkey voted opportunistically on the side of Pakistan (mainly for brownie points/PR value in Pakistan) after it was clear that there was not going to be even the minimum 3 votes in favour of Pakistan to keep them off the gray list, so their one vote did not matter in any real sense. No need for hand wringing over that, India did a great job with that round. The real loss from that round of FATF meetings for India was that in exchange, we had to concede to China becoming a future chair.

First, Jinnah, his top leaders Muslim League, and the ashraf of Ganga-Jamuna belt conceived of the 'Idea of Pakistan'; promised green flags atop high masts wafting in cool air with milk and honey flowing everywhere etc. It all came crashing down instantaneously. Then, they thought of grabbing J&K. It ended only in a partial success but prized possession could not be priced out of India. All efforts have ended in dismal failure. All wars thrust on India in order to fly the green flag atop Red Fort only ended with increasing margins of defeat. All that America, China, Turkey, KSA, UAE & Jordan ever gave, came up as cropper against the arch enemy. The non-TFTA part of the nation seceded eventually. As the original gang left for the nether world one by one, the disappointment grew further and gave way to disillusionment and desperation. The economy went to shambles even as the arch enemy's began growing leaps and bounds. The wise people saw the writing on the wall and felt that the only course left was to loot the country as much as possible before it went down. The PA institutionalized this thought and took overall responsibility for looting even while keeping the Terroristani head bobbing just above the water line without drowning. Its projects (Khalistan terror, jihad in Kashmir, terror all over India, targetting Indian economy, nuclear blackmail, Project Karachi et al) have (or are being) been systematically dismantled, especially by the NDA. They have also boomeranged on themselves. Looks like more trouble is on their way for the next five years. Terroristan might have had some success in Afghanistan but eventually has come under China's vice-like grip today.

Terroristani leaders never had a vision for their country but then it was an artificial construct anyway.

These disappointments are too much to bear. Hence the rulers (aka looters) carefully filtered information, bolstered common man's spirits through lies etc. Immy the Dummy possibly believed all that he had been told about the greatness of Terroristan until he settled down on the 'chair'. When cognitive dissonance strikes, all sorts of lies, theories have to be spun. Hence this 'huge o&g find'. As someone else already said here, the failure will, in coming days, be attributed to YYY conspiracy.

Allah, the Most Benevolent, has been singularly cruel to the only country created in His name.

SSridhar wrote:The FATF plenary had formally placed Pakistan in the grey list in June 2018 after the country could not secure a minimum of three votes.......Turkey was the only member that stood

Something needs to be done here...why can't we influence such small players to switch sides when dragons are made to sit in the corner...

turkey aspires for the numero uno leadership position of the ummah.

this is the thought process of the inheritors of the ottoman empire and the imagined wrongs done to them.

as long as the saudis control mecca/medina and have the support of the amerikis, the tattered turks are left holding their dicks in their hands, literally begging everyone for a seat at the high table, any high table.

^Well, he is right, but he himself was responsible for the frivolous lawsuit against the BCCI which Pakistan not only lost in a humiliating way, but were forced to pay both the ICC and the BCCI for their legal costs.

trying something new,I guess it didnt always have to be like this,we would have have grown older like two rajahs of decrepit kingdoms,reliant on firangs for firepower and know-how,you would have eked out an living on agriculture and basic industry,and i on being an errand rent boy,our people would have grown older and poorer together,cussing our swindling politicians,cursing our infertile land,bemoaning the loss of power and what might have been,and poorer till the day we were formed,together in this fantasy,but alas it was a play of two actors,and when you left the stage to chart your course,it didnt feel right,so i poisoned your people, sullied your name,mocked your ethics,but still you left on a course so very different than my own,without falling infrastructure, or looming environmental disaster,and without you besides me in the mud,the dreams and hallucinations merge,Come back to me to this hovel partner, the one we on which we laid together,and we will dream for ever more of exploding mangoes and ganga jamuna tehzeeb,and of a shared past and destiny of indus,chanakya and mughals,so when i look around me, and all i find is dual personalities,i dream of gloried pasts and stolen entities,and what was to be a south asian identity.....

trying something new,I guess it didnt always have to be like this,we would have have grown older like two rajahs of decrepit kingdoms,reliant on firangs for firepower and know-how,you would have eked out an living on agriculture and basic industry,and i on being an errand rent boy,our people would have grown older and poorer together,cussing our swindling politicians,cursing our infertile land,bemoaning the loss of power and what might have been,and poorer till the day we were formed,together in this fantasy,but alas it was a play of two actors,and when you left the stage to chart your course,it didnt feel right,so i poisoned your people, sullied your name,mocked your ethics,but still you left on a course so very different than my own,without falling infrastructure, or looming environmental disaster,and without you besides me in the mud,the dreams and hallucinations merge,Come back to me to this hovel partner, the one we on which we laid together,and we will dream for ever more of exploding mangoes and ganga jamuna tehzeeb,and of a shared past and destiny of indus,chanakya and mughals,so when i look around me, and all i find is dual personalities,i dream of gloried pasts and stolen entities,and what was to be a south asian identity.....

Bangladesh halts visas for Pakistani nationals amid diplomatic impasseThe diplomatic row between Bangladesh and Pakistan is on the rise since last year when Dhaka denied a visa to the Pakistan high commissioner.By PTI | May 21, 2019, 12.01 PM IST

Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj refused to stand next to Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi in a group picture taken at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Council of Foreign Ministers moot in Kyrgyzstan on Wednesday.

At the moot, when all attending foreign ministers gathered for a picture, Swaraj ended up standing next to Qureshi. However, as she turned to her side and saw her Pakistani counterpart standing next to her, she changed her place.

Swaraj’s vacated spot was taken by Russia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov.

Cheers

Last edited by Peregrine on 22 May 2019 17:55, edited 1 time in total.

FAISALABAD: A Chinese national was arrested on Wednesday after he reportedly pushed a worker into a burning furnace in Faisalabad, Express News reported.

The incident occurred at a factory in Faisalabad’s Sahianwala Industrial Estate. According to Express News, the labourer was pushed into the furnace by the Chinese supervisor of the labour force. The foreigner reportedly lost his cool after the worker failed to comprehend his instructions.

Shows what an absolute idiot he is, if it weren't apparent enough from his military-related tweets.

If the Pakis had done their bit in our freedom struggle against the Brits, they would have imbibed the spirit of Swadeshi. Instead they got a free ride, and continued to get a free ride after independence from Unkil and then four fathers. Now they come up with half-ass ideas to save themselves.

ISLAMABAD / RAWALPINDI / BAHAWALPUR: Raising the issue of the recent rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl in Islamabad, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz hit out at the government on Wednesday, calling Imran Khan an “incompetent prime minister”.

“Farishta was a daughter of Pakistan and we will raise our voice against the horrific crime,” she said while addressing party activists in Bahawalpur.

“I don’t call him [Imran Khan] the prime minister because he is incompetent and despite promising to the nation that he won’t beg before anyone, he has handed over the keys to the national exchequer to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).”

Maryam added that the “incompetent” government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was a tragedy for the people.

“Those who claimed that they would bring about a change have brought the country to its knees. The rising inflation and deteriorating economic conditions have made life difficult for the people as their income is now less than their essential spending.”

Speaking in Rawalpindi, PML-N leader and former defence minister Khawaja Asif said his party would take to the streets and also protest in the parliament after Eid against the increasing prices of essential commodities.

Sahianwala police took a Chinese engineer into custody on charges of pushing a worker into a furnace following a row at a factory in industrial area here on Wednesday. The worker has been hospitalised with 40 per cent burns.

Following the alleged incident, Chinese engineers and workers exchanged words. The workers staged a protest demonstration against the Chinese engineers and demanded registration of a case against the suspect. Some of the agitating workers told reporters that behaviour of the Chinese nationals working at the factory was harsh towards them. They complained that nobody listened to their complaints against the foreigners who were given protocol by police and other government officials.

They alleged that following exchange of words, the Chinese engineer deliberately pushed a worker, Shehroz, into a three-foot deep furnace. He was immediately rescued by some of his colleagues working nearby. Shehroz, who suffered burns, was shifted to hospital.

Peregrineji,Ultimately, Karma will get you, sooner or later. One may think that killing, raping, driving your neighbors away and then taking his/her property, selling their womenfolk to a life of degradation and prostitution is an easy way to prosperity, then one has only to look at Pakistan.There will be more to come in this saga. The "Bad-Dua" given by the innocents will have its effect even after years have passed.Gautam

Mahesh_R wrote:Something needs to be done here...why can't we influence such small players to switch sides when dragons are made to sit in the corner...

turkey aspires for the numero uno leadership position of the ummah.

this is the thought process of the inheritors of the ottoman empire and the imagined wrongs done to them.

as long as the saudis control mecca/medina and have the support of the amerikis, the tattered turks are left holding their dicks in their hands, literally begging everyone for a seat at the high table, any high table.

to them, we are mere kaffirs.

Interesting to see their level of access to high tech areas via Europe and America

just see some of the capabilities of their military industrial complex

ISLAMABAD / RAWALPINDI / BAHAWALPUR: Raising the issue of the recent rape and murder of a 10-year-old girl in Islamabad, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Vice President Maryam Nawaz hit out at the government on Wednesday, calling Imran Khan an “incompetent prime minister”.

“Farishta was a daughter of Pakistan and we will raise our voice against the horrific crime,” she said while addressing party activists in Bahawalpur.

“I don’t call him [Imran Khan] the prime minister because he is incompetent and despite promising to the nation that he won’t beg before anyone, he has handed over the keys to the national exchequer to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).”

Maryam added that the “incompetent” government of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) was a tragedy for the people.

“Those who claimed that they would bring about a change have brought the country to its knees. The rising inflation and deteriorating economic conditions have made life difficult for the people as their income is now less than their essential spending.”

Speaking in Rawalpindi, PML-N leader and former defence minister Khawaja Asif said his party would take to the streets and also protest in the parliament after Eid against the increasing prices of essential commodities.

At least two people were killed and 20 were wounded in a blast inside Rehmania mosque in Quetta's Pashtoonabad area during Friday prayers, according to Civil Hospital medical superintendent (MS) Dr Saleem Abro.